The long lava flows of Elysium Planita, Mars

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Abstract
Viking orbiter images are used to study the distribution and morphology of 59 lava flows in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars. Average widths for these flows range from 3 to 16 km, and many of the flows exceed 100 km in length. The aspect ratio (flow length to average width) is highly variable (>40:1 to 2. Photoclinometry is used to derive an average thickness of 40–60 m for these flows, indicating that individual flow volumes range from 17.7 to 68.1 km3. Plausible values for the effusion rate (101–104 m3 s−1) suggest that individual eruptions could have lasted for a few months to several decades and could have injected between 1.36 and 2.04 × 1012 kg of water vapor into the atmosphere, assuming a 1 wt % water content for the parental magma. A total volume for all 59 flows is estimated to be 817–1226 km3, which would have released ∼2.04–3.01 × 1013 kg of water vapor into the atmosphere or ∼0.2% of the amount previously calculated [Plescia, 1993] as the amount released from the Cerberus flows in SE Elysium Planitia.